Many organizations struggle with the decision of whether or not to post a dollar amount during their fundraising campaign. While it can be stressful and at times quite scary (what if the goal is not met?), announcing a number is helpful in motivating and inspiring your donors to give more.

Not too long ago, I didn’t have to worry about year-end fundraising – and I’m not going to lie, it was pretty glorious.

It was the year I worked at a tech firm on a social media publishing and listening product. Turns out Fortune 500 companies don’t do a lot of year-end fundraising.

And it was the first year in 10, maybe 12(?) that I wasn’t making last minute changes to copy and constantly refreshing numbers to see how appeals were performing for my clients.

Aside from a little break, the year that I wasn’t responsible for crafting or sending out a TON of fundraising appeals, was also a chance for me to gain some perspective about how year-end fundraising must look to someone who doesn’t do this for a living.

Every single department in you organization decides that they need to send an email to “THE LIST” about important issue x, y or z.

One department, usually the development team or the advocacy or marketing team, wants to control the amount and type of emails sent to “THE LIST.”

Epic battles ensue. Who gets to decide what goes to the list when and what gets prioritized? Everyone feels their message is critical and has to go out to supporters.

In the end, you come up with a solution that is often wrapped around a calendar – one that gives everyone a glimpse into what is being sent out to a file or segments of the file – so that the organization doesn’t overwhelm its constituents, keeps everyone happy internally and hits all their fundraising and advocacy goals.

No one ever intends to do it. Maybe you’ve even tried to plan on NOT doing it. But for so many organizations, the resources, time and the effort that goes into the planning, execution and of course the fundraising involved with peer-to-peer events mean that when the last participant crosses the finish line, you are simply tapped out. Done. Finito.

It’s a critical moment. And the time you should be doing everything you can to continue to build on the great relationship you just developed with donors and participants.

Here’s 5 tips to make sure you avoid dropping the relationships and keep your participants engaged and feeling the love post-event.